Granddaughter fights to keep disabled veteran grandfather in Sandy-damaged home he loves

Granddaughter fights to keep grandfather in home he loves

Jolene Macri, 31, of Shrewsbury Avenue in Highlands, speaks about being her grandfather Robert Ford's caregiver and the red tape she has gone through since Hurricane Sandy severely damaged his home where she, her fiance Joseph Macri, 33, and their son live.

Tears flow freely along Shrewsbury Avenue these days, the idyllic river views providing little comfort when weighted against post-superstorm realities.

If Jolene Huelsenbeck had a nickel for every one that's rolled down her cheek over the past month she figures she wouldn't be in this predicament, and just in case FEMA's paying out on them, which she's not counting on, she sheds a few more while pondering the prospects for a merry Christmas.

As locals slowly untangle the bird's nest of red tape, the cost of rebuilding, and in many cases the resultant debt, can be overwhelming.

Then there are the obligations made to loved ones, once unbreakable guarantees, that have been placed in doubt by the 12-foot storm surge.

Surveying the damage inside the home owned by her grandfather, Robert Ford, a disabled Vietnam veteran, you're drawn to the Army sticker on a front window that now details the high-water mark in a place that had been completely dry from the time it was built in 1887 until Oct. 29.

"They say my grandfather's medical problems are related to Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam," she said. "When my grandmother died (in 2005) I promised him I would do everything I could to make sure he stayed in his home until the day he died. The hurricane is making it difficult to keep that promise."

Huelsenbeck, 31, who had been living there as Ford's full-time caregiver, along with her 6-year-old son, Tyler, now spends her days sifting through the minutia of their precarious situation.

They currently reside in Middletown with the parents of her fiancÚ, Joe Macri, an unemployed former assistant trader who lost his job in 2008 when the economy collapsed. Meanwhile, Ford, a double leg amputee below the knee who requires dialysis three times a week, is at Bayshore Health & Rehabilitation Center in Holmdel, where his insurance stopped picking up the tab on Nov. 15.

Slip this little tale into the "no good deed goes unpunished" file relating to the disaster.

"I don't even know what to think anymore," said Ford, 70, who was part of the Army's First Division, assigned to a Dozer Tank crew clearing roads in 1965.

"I just want to go home and be with my great-grandson. He means so much to me. But I have no idea when that's going to happen."

They were just scraping by on Ford's disability, Social Security and a small General Motors pension from his time working at the former plant in Linden. They don't have the tens of thousands of dollars it will take to redo the electrical, fix the walls and floors and buy new appliances.

"We didn't know that they changed our zone to be mandatory flood insurance," noted Huelsenbeck, who said FEMA denied them coverage because they did not have the required flood insurance. "(FEMA) is saying it was my grandfather's responsibility to know this. And I said 'How would we know this?' And they said 'His mortgage company would have called and told him the rules had changed and that it was mandatory, or your town tax official would have told you.' "

And he hasn't had a mortgage since he paid the house off two decades ago.

Maybe Ford or his granddaughter should have figured all this out. Then again, maybe the government should have known the defoliant they were using in Southeast Asia was harmful to GIs.

There's plenty of blame to go around, but no solution in sight.

And so they remain in limbo.

Huelsenbeck's file includes military records and medical bills, along with letters and emails she's sent to federal and state agencies, and local representatives. Every time she thumbs through it, unpleasant memories get dredged up.

There were costs associated with the rehabilitation following Ford's second amputation last January, while they've struggled to get transportation to and from his dialysis treatments covered. The hope is that he can shift to a Veterans Administration facility until he can go home, but there's been no movement on that front.

"I've been trying to do a lot of the work myself on the house and looking for whatever jobs I can find to bring some money in," said Macri. "It hasn't been easy."

On Thursday night, Huelsenbeck stated her case to Bill Vogel, FEMA's federal coordinating officer in the state, calling in during his television appearance on News 12. Vogel sounded genuinely concerned and indicated he wanted to speak with her personally. Huelsenbeck gave her contact information but hasn't heard anything.

"The state says I should call social services," she noted. "That I should have him placed in a state nursing home and they would take his home and his property. Basically, rip up the only family he has and put him in a home somewhere."

So Huelsenbeck presses on, desperate to keep her promise, but, like so many others, unable to escape the superstorm's vortex.

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Granddaughter fights to keep disabled veteran grandfather in Sandy-damaged home he loves

Tears flow freely along Shrewsbury Avenue these days, the idyllic river views providing little comfort when weighted against post-superstorm realities.

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